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Royal College of Art

Introduction

Royal College of Art

Located in the heart of London, the Royal College of Art is the most influential, wholly postgraduate university of art and design in the world.

The RCA has a distinctive role in preparing its postgraduate students for careers in art, design and the creative sector – indeed the College is widely viewed as a crucible of the creative industries. Courses are taught by internationally renowned artists, practitioners and theorists, and students have a unique opportunity to study art in a design environment, and design in an art environment. Its concentrated, customised forms of teaching and learning – and dedicated technical facilities and research centres – contribute to an exceptional creative and intellectual environment.

As well as welcoming students from around the world, the College’s global dimension is enhanced through partnerships with leading art and design, cultural and educational institutions and though extensive links with business, both nationally and internationally.

The College’s Royal Charter, granted in 1967, specifies that the purpose of the institution is "to advance learning, knowledge and professional competence particularly in the field of fine arts…through teaching, research and collaboration with industry and commerce".

According to the most recent figures, 93% of the College’s graduates have gained employment at an appropriate professional level in their chosen specialist field, within a short time of their leaving the College. These destination figures are a significant indicator of the RCA’s success.

Recognised for the outstanding quality of its graduates, the College boasts such note-worthy alumni as Sir James Dyson, Thomas Heatherwick, David Hockney, Tracey Emin, Christopher Bailey, Julien McDonald, Alison Jackson, Idris Khan, David Adjaye, AOC, Suzie Templeton, Sir Ridley Scott – the list goes on.

This school offers programs in:
  • English

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MA

MA Animation

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

The Animation programme is a world leader in practice and research, with a commitment to broadening the understanding of our complex discipline. Established over 30 years ago, the programme has an international reputation that places it at the forefront of the discipline. Within the programme there are three distinct pathways: Documentary Animation, Experimental Animation and Narrative Animation, one of which students select as part of their application. [+]

About the Programme The Animation programme is a world leader in practice and research, with a commitment to broadening the understanding of our complex discipline. Established over 30 years ago, the programme has an international reputation that places it at the forefront of the discipline. Within the programme there are three distinct pathways: Documentary Animation, Experimental Animation and Narrative Animation, one of which students select as part of their application. The programme’s location within a visually sophisticated, multidisciplinary art and design school, rather than a film school, is crucial in the development of creative and critical thinking, research skills and expanded discipline expertise that’s applied to ideas, styles, genres and technological approaches. Both the MA and research degrees attract artists and makers from a broad background of disciplines: science, maths, architecture, literature, art history, computing and fine art, as well as communication. We offer a unique learning and teaching environment, developing the creativity and skills required in an age of rapid cultural and technological change. Our students contribute to this expanding and maturing field of moving image, with core skills centred around directing, narrative and production. We offer an exceptionally stimulating multidisciplinary environment, complemented by the College’s award-winning programmes in art and design. The curriculum allows students to explore the creative slip between diverse forms of moving image: animation, documentary, fiction, process and interactivity. Through innovative, practical research and an understanding of different contexts, traditions and histories, students learn through a potent combination of workshops, lectures and tutorials, while developing... [-]

MA Architecture

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Architecture at the RCA sets out to inspire design innovation. The programme expands the possibilities of architecture and its agency in the world by encouraging a speculative, independent and critical ethos among its students. The two-year long programme conceives of architecture as a diverse and complex set of practices that move beyond traditional distinctions and limits in the field. [+]

About the Programme Architecture at the RCA sets out to inspire design innovation. The programme expands the possibilities of architecture and its agency in the world by encouraging a speculative, independent and critical ethos among its students. The two-year long programme conceives of architecture as a diverse and complex set of practices that move beyond traditional distinctions and limits in the field. A radical and innovative approach to pedagogy and research, as well as a commitment to an open-minded, experimental studio culture sets the RCA apart. For students looking to develop a distinctive and innovative voice in the field and a unique chance to collaborate with future leaders in other art and design disciplines including photography, sculpture, visual communications and animation, the RCA offers an ideal environment. Teaching in the MA programme revolves around the Architectural Design Studio. Each ADS is understood as a distinctive platform for design research organised around important global challenge and opportunities such as ecology, housing, urbanism, new technologies and making. Complementing the design studios, the programme offers an intensive series of seminars, lectures, workshops and symposia that cultivate new and experimental approaches to the discipline. The programme culminates in the thesis project and summer show, allowing students an opportunity to present their work to the profession and the general public. The core of learning is project-based according to a unit system made up of eight architectural design studios (ADS) with a unique set of concerns, methods and critical frameworks. Each ADS has approximately sixteen students... [-]

MA Ceramic & Glass

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

The spirit of Ceramics & Glass at the RCA springs from the heart of those media, and a belief in the transformative power of material thinking, research and making to enrich our world in imaginative and meaningful ways. The programme is a site for contemporary discourse where personal concerns and global perspectives intersect. [+]

About the Programme The spirit of Ceramics & Glass at the RCA springs from the heart of those media, and a belief in the transformative power of material thinking, research and making to enrich our world in imaginative and meaningful ways. The programme is a site for contemporary discourse where personal concerns and global perspectives intersect. We seek those with passion to extend the possibilities and perspectives of ceramics and glass within and beyond traditional limitations, informed by their rich provenance of materials and practices. The Ceramics & Glass MA at the RCA provides outstanding opportunities to develop a dynamic, informed and connected practice in a study environment that embraces diversity and depth. We believe in interrogating practices and challenging conventions. Our hyper-material age presents exciting and critical opportunities to explore cultures of production; to ask questions about what, why and how we make; to express ideas through the symbolic modes of things and transformative character of substances, and to consider how our work can influence physical, personal and psycho-social environments. We challenge and encourage you to stretch your imagination, expand your potential and find your voice. The MA spectrum of enquiry includes art and design works, design for manufacture and the built environment, emerging experimental practices and applications. Curiosity is nurtured through the imaginative exploration of concepts, the investigation of material properties and technologies, the potential of interdisciplinary practice and collaboration. Making, thinking and writing skills are integrated to develop critical perspectives of practice and purpose, and to foster... [-]

MA City Design

Campus Full time 15 months October 2017 United Kingdom London

With a global urban population of 4 billion and 28 megacities, urban life is experiencing momentous change. New social groups are emerging, populations are ageing, family units are extending and dispersing, work is becoming casualised and whole communities have moved online. At the same time, dangerous new social divides are appearing on the periphery of cities, between different cultures, and now also between different generations. [+]

About the Programme With a global urban population of 4 billion and 28 megacities, urban life is experiencing momentous change. New social groups are emerging, populations are ageing, family units are extending and dispersing, work is becoming casualised and whole communities have moved online. At the same time, dangerous new social divides are appearing on the periphery of cities, between different cultures, and now also between different generations. Many of the models used to explain, design, develop and manage cities have resisted change. More recently however, new possibilities are emerging and their consequences promise to be profound: modern social movements, automated building supply chains, technology platforms, driverless transport and logistics, distributed water and energy infrastructure – all will radically reshape the city's fundamental building blocks. The MA City Design programme is a new 15-month MA aimed at an emerging generation of architects interested in the convergence of new social, technical and spatial innovations, and harnessing their potential to generate alternative forms of urban life. At its core is a belief in the unique capacities of design and the value of propositional forms of thinking. The programme is field-focused, design-led and project-based. It proposes a unique, multi-scalar approach to city design education that unites architectural, technological and scientific research. The programme is also connected to practice in London through an innovative partnership scheme. Students will learn to negotiate between a complex range of city-making actors and their constituencies. The distinctive studio-based model offers students a rigorous and experimental platform for developing... [-]

MA Critical Writing in Art & Design

Campus Full time Part time 15 months October 2017 United Kingdom London + 1 more

The Critical Writing in Art & Design MA programme in the School of Humanities provides unique opportunities for postgraduate students to develop high-level writing, research and analytical skills in the setting of one of the world’s most dynamic art schools. Combining workshop models of teaching and learning, and ‘live’ projects with leading arts organisations, the MA provides the skills required for a successful career in the arts or a research degree. [+]

About the Programme The Critical Writing in Art & Design MA programme in the School of Humanities provides unique opportunities for postgraduate students to develop high-level writing, research and analytical skills in the setting of one of the world’s most dynamic art schools. Combining workshop models of teaching and learning, and ‘live’ projects with leading arts organisations, the MA provides the skills required for a successful career in the arts or a research degree. For 2017/8, we are introducing some exciting new areas of specialisation within the programme. The programme is committed to the idea that writing – of all kinds – is a creative practice that requires imagination as well as good literary skills and expert knowledge. Students on the MA are presented with many opportunities to develop and apply the skills required by various writing formats from the review and catalogue essay, to fiction and other forms of speculation. The unique structure of the programme allows for specialisation and the freedom to explore novel approaches to writing. The Critical Writing in Art & Design programme combines lectures, specialist writing workshops and ‘crits’ as well as live projects with external partners. Previous partners have included the Royal Opera House, Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge and Turner Contemporary in Margate. Recognising that the media is undergoing considerable change, the MA also offers opportunities to work with professionals working print and online publishing, broadcasting and podcasting. Students on the programme enjoy opportunities to share classes and to work on shared projects with... [-]

MA Curating Contemporary Art

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Established 25 years ago and led by Professor Victoria Walsh, the MA Curating Contemporary Art (CCA) programme is recognised both as an international leader in its field and for its commitment to collaborative group project-based work that integrates theory and practice throughout the two years of the curriculum. [+]

About the Programme Established 25 years ago and led by Professor Victoria Walsh, the MA Curating Contemporary Art (CCA) programme is recognised both as an international leader in its field and for its commitment to collaborative group project-based work that integrates theory and practice throughout the two years of the curriculum. For 2017/18, we are introducing new areas of focus in response to the expanded field of curating and the widening professional opportunities for curatorial practice and research in a global context. These will include: Exhibitions and Programming practice focusses on curating, commissioning and programming within the physical and defined setting of the gallery/museum space providing critical, theoretical and practical understanding of the histories and opportunities within this form of curatorial practice. Urban practice focuses on curating and commissioning within the urban context of the global city, with particular emphasis on the expanded role curators play bringing together architects, designers, urbanists, and public and private organisations with communities and artist practitioners to create new spaces of creative opportunity, encounter and public value. Digital practice focuses on the expanded field of artistic and curatorial practice that is rooted in and defined by digital media, online production and networked distribution. It will examine the differences and commonalities between digital and analogue forms of artistic production and curating; and experiment with new curatorial models that bridge on and offline networked cultures and audiences. The CCA programme approaches the field critically, theoretically and through best practice in commissioning, curating, and programming with London-based and... [-]

MA Design Products

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

The MA programme provides students who have already acquired knowledge and skills in various areas of design with an academic framework in which to continue to develop their own professional direction. The course takes a pluralistic view of the students’ ideas and interests and there is an atmosphere that encourages experimental, [+]

About the Programme The MA programme provides students who have already acquired knowledge and skills in various areas of design with an academic framework in which to continue to develop their own professional direction. The course takes a pluralistic view of the students’ ideas and interests and there is an atmosphere that encourages experimental, groundbreaking work, encouraging a critical approach and a questioning of accepted practices. The programme has a matrix structure comprised of horizontal teaching units, called Platforms, and a set of vertical themes, which cut across the Platforms. In the first year, students undergo an orientation period in the autumn term, and a diagnostic period in the spring term, experiencing the different design perspectives of the Platforms and the different themes through a set of project briefs. In the summer term, students elect a Platform to follow for the remainder of their studies, underpinned by one of the themes (or a theme of their own choosing). Each Platform is led by two tutors (who are practicing designers), and each theme is led by either a senior tutor or the head of programme, who work together to choose the content and area of focus they wish to concentrate on for the autumn and spring terms, and engage with the students through assigning briefs, and meeting with them on a weekly basis. In addition, students are taught a set of methods and tools, such a critical thinking, user-facing methods, that will underpin their work. Second-year students are expected to produce... [-]

MA Digital Direction

Campus Full time Part time 15 months September 2017 United Kingdom London + 1 more

Digital Direction is a new 240-credit, 15-month Master’s programme starting in September 2017. Digital Direction addresses media and storytelling in the digital era, assessing emerging issues associated with contemporary digital communication and the creative economy, training new creative leaders who are responsive to continually changing contexts, infrastructures and technologies and engendering a new wave of creative leadership. [+]

About the Programme Digital Direction is a new 240-credit, 15-month Master’s programme starting in September 2017. Digital Direction addresses media and storytelling in the digital era, assessing emerging issues associated with contemporary digital communication and the creative economy, training new creative leaders who are responsive to continually changing contexts, infrastructures and technologies and engendering a new wave of creative leadership. Graduates will develop a deep understanding of critical and experimental communication/media production, creation and design practices, and through applied innovation will address current and future contexts. The programme prepares students to evolve and lead new approaches to media and storytelling through predictive innovation, enabled by rapidly changing cultural and industrial practices, plus uses of, and developments in, digital technologies. Centring on the interrelated domains of broadcasting, film and experience/brand, the programme addresses knowledge and skills gaps in four key areas of practice: production, direction, content development/making/writing and communication/digital media design. The programme proposes new imperatives for storytelling in an age of alternative facts and fictions; challenges associated with multiple media forms and systems; and methods for engaging publics as audiences, users, consumers, (co-)creators, stakeholders and participants. Established approaches to production, direction, content creation and communication/digital media design are transforming at an exponential rate, employing innovative forms of storytelling and narrative experience to engage audiences in new ways. The programme is informed by associated transformations in digital technologies, including the prevalence of post-broadcast models of On Demand media; the proliferation of networked forms of production and distribution; source- and platform-agnostic, multi-cast,... [-]

MA Environmental Architecture

Campus Full time 15 months October 2017 United Kingdom London

The intensity of our carbon economy has left the planet with a design problem. No matter where we live or work, the environments we move through are constructed. There is nothing on the planet that human beings haven’t touched. If the planet has a design problem, what do the terms ‘design’ or ‘architecture’ mean when they are applied to phenomena as varied as oceans or atmospheres, or to farmland and deserts? [+]

About the Programme The intensity of our carbon economy has left the planet with a design problem. No matter where we live or work, the environments we move through are constructed. There is nothing on the planet that human beings haven’t touched. If the planet has a design problem, what do the terms ‘design’ or ‘architecture’ mean when they are applied to phenomena as varied as oceans or atmospheres, or to farmland and deserts? The intensity of environmental change calls for new forms of knowledge production based in propositional thinking, especially design-based methods. Design is a crucial tool in both the imagination and negotiation of alternative futures. Environmental Architecture is a new 15-month, project-based MA programme exploring the future of landscapes, environments and ecosystems. It will focus on the co-dependence of life forms and earth systems as well as the co-existence of alternative concepts of landscapes, environments and ecosystems as they are expressed by different societies. The programme is field-focused. Students will have the opportunity to engage with live projects in sites of rapid and complex environmental change. The programme emphasises comparative, multi-scalar approaches to design research. Students will familiarise themselves with anthropological and ethnographic research methods, and new systems measuring, classifying and capturing data including computational sensing and imaging. Classes and workshops from experts in physical and social sciences complement studio teaching and provide quantitative input to projects as required. Possible areas of enquiry can include: biodiversity, carbon trading, desertification and its effect on migration and settlement patterns, impacts... [-]

MA Fashion Menswear

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Remember that you are unique and have a vision to share – listen to that vision and allow it to inform your time as a designer. The contemporary is full of noise and so unless you free-fall a little in ways that you are able to, this vision gets clouded fast. There is a sharp reality about the economics of our time that creates expectations and demands speed, or conclusions that arrive too fast. [+]

About the Programme Remember that you are unique and have a vision to share – listen to that vision and allow it to inform your time as a designer. The contemporary is full of noise and so unless you free-fall a little in ways that you are able to, this vision gets clouded fast. There is a sharp reality about the economics of our time that creates expectations and demands speed, or conclusions that arrive too fast. But this is your place, your time and this is what you must respond to, to enable growth of the new. You can be the new liquid society that runs through the fingers of the big players – mercurial and magical. A fearless approach to creative expression, fanatical technique and an informed professionalism is what we look for and encourage on this programme. The focus is towards strengthening this spirit of exploration through unique expertise and a polymathic debate with modern global awareness. We further encourage a strong work ethic across a broad variety of personally driven, industry-oriented and cross-programme design projects. The realisation of individuality within a global design context is enabled through our excellent links with practising designers, international fashion houses, cross-programme relations and a dedicated staff team. New ideas, materials, methods and design applications are continually originated and progressed by our MA, MPhil and PhD students. Fashion Menswear staff endeavour to create a course environment directed towards this creative self-discovery, one that offers each student both the conceptual tutelage and... [-]

MA Fashion Womenswear

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Remember that you are unique, with unique visions to tell – listen to that and allow that to inform your time. And yet times are full of noise and so unless you free-fall a little in ways that you are able to, this gets clouded fast. There is also a sharp reality about the economics of our time that makes our expectations and demands for a speed and conclusion and arrival too fast… [+]

About the Programme Remember that you are unique, with unique visions to tell – listen to that and allow that to inform your time. And yet times are full of noise and so unless you free-fall a little in ways that you are able to, this gets clouded fast. There is also a sharp reality about the economics of our time that makes our expectations and demands for a speed and conclusion and arrival too fast… But this is your place, your time and this is what you must respond to, to enable growth of the new, as you can be this new liquid society that runs through the fingers of the big players... mercurial and magical... A fearless approach to creative expression, fanatical technique and an informed professionalism is what we look for and encourage on this programme. The focus is towards strengthening this spirit of exploration through unique expertise and a polymathic debate with modern global awareness. We further encourage a strong work ethic across a broad variety of personally driven, industry-oriented and cross-programme design projects. This realisation of individuality within a global design context is enabled through our excellent links with practising designers, artists, international fashion brands, cross-programme relations and a dedicated staff team. New ideas, materials, methods and design applications are continually originated and progressed by our MA, MPhil and PhD students. Fashion Womenswear staff endeavour to create a course environment directed towards this creative self-discovery, one that offers each student both the conceptual tutelage and... [-]

MA Global Innovation Design

Campus Full time 2 years August 2018 United Kingdom London

Global Innovation Design (GID) is a joint Master's programme between the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. It is a unique, transnational Master’s design initiative that brings together three major centres of design, culture, enterprise and industry: Europe, North America and Asia. [+]

About the Programme Global Innovation Design (GID) is a joint Master's programme between the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. It is a unique, transnational Master’s design initiative that brings together three major centres of design, culture, enterprise and industry: Europe, North America and Asia. GID is a multidisciplinary, multicultural and multinational design programme awarding both an MA from the Royal College of Art and an MSc from Imperial College London to graduates. GID offers an engaging global curriculum and provides powerful cultural experiences crafted to nurture innovators and designers who are prepared to take on the changing needs of enterprise in the twenty-first century. GID international partners include Pratt Institute (New York), Keio University (Tokyo), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and Tsinghua University (Beijing). Each of these distinctive institutions brings unique expertise and complementary approaches to design, engineering, business and cultural sensitivity, within the context of internationally oriented design innovation. The GID vision is to foster a transformative postgraduate experience that is unparalleled in the world, one that cultivates internationally oriented innovation and design leaders who can tackle complex problems and deliver positive social, environmental, economic and cultural change. The GID ethos is to cultivate activated people, designers and leaders who are capable of making change in the world. Designers on the Global Innovation Design Master's programme will be expected to generate creative directions that other designers and innovators will follow. The programme is full time and runs over a period of two calendar years. GID Master's candidates... [-]

MA History of Design

Campus Full time 15 months October 2017 United Kingdom London

The V&A/RCA History of Design programme is internationally recognised as the leading centre for the postgraduate study of the history of design and material culture. As jointly offered by two world-leading centres for scholarship and creativity, the RCA and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), [+]

About the Programme The V&A/RCA History of Design programme is internationally recognised as the leading centre for the postgraduate study of the history of design and material culture. As jointly offered by two world-leading centres for scholarship and creativity, the RCA and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), we teach and research cultural, social, economic, political and technological history through artefacts and our interactions with them. Projects and expertise range across global geographies, from the early fifteenth century to the present day. For 2017/8, we are offering two pathways within the MA: the history of design and material culture and a new pathway in the material cultures of performance. A third pathway, in the material culture of photography, is planned to follow in 2018/19. V&A/RCA History of Design is based on the principle that researching, analysing and communicating history through artefacts is a practice-based discipline and can play an important public role. We embrace history that is public-facing, experimental and committed to scholarly excellence, as befits our location in the public museum and the art school. We bring a distinctly global outlook to historical questions, whether this means placing local histories in comparative context or tracing global networks through material culture. The Design and Material Culture pathway uses artefact analysis – of services, interactions, policies, institutions and legal and technical systems as well as physical objects and spaces – alongside more conventional historical methods to generate new perspectives on large historical questions. Specialist areas of teaching and research include fashion... [-]

MA Information Experience Design

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

IED is set within the vibrant mixed studios of the RCA’s School of Communication, each of its pathways with a specialist Lab as its hub. Professor Neville Brody, who provides inspiration and instigation, calls IED an interface between information and experience, and a platform for exploring post-screen, post-digital and post-disciplinary practice. [+]

About the Programme IED is set within the vibrant mixed studios of the RCA’s School of Communication, each of its pathways with a specialist Lab as its hub. Professor Neville Brody, who provides inspiration and instigation, calls IED an interface between information and experience, and a platform for exploring post-screen, post-digital and post-disciplinary practice. Our students and researchers work alongside the School’s graphic designers, animators and illustrators, and in interdisciplinary teams with other RCA programmes as well as external scientists, companies, architects and academics. IED develops a mindset as well as a skillset. No specific technical skills are required; applicants come from diverse backgrounds in design, science, fine art, engineering and technology, with a common critical interest in data, design and making. Graduates may go on to work in visualisation, data science, advanced design practice, cultural and educational institutions, research labs or studio practice. The three distinct pathways offered by the IED programme of Sound Design, Moving Image Design, and Experimental Design, one of which students select as part of their application, are interrelated, focused around different ways of approaching IED’s core aim of transforming information into experiences. IED offers Specific training in working with data, programming and electronics, prototyping and making using a range of methods and materials, and tools for enquiry, investigation and research. Tutors, visiting lecturers and guests who are at the forefront of practice and thinking internationally. An Experimental Lab, Sound Lab and Moving Image Lab for making and hacking, each stocked with a range of... [-]

MA Innovation Design Engineering

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) is a double Masters that has been run jointly with Imperial College London for over 35 years. It is a leading-edge, creative product development course that involves experimentation, design, engineering and enterprise activities. In multidisciplinary teams or as individuals, participants work at the centre of complex, demanding projects with an emphasis on prototyping and proving propositions. [+]

About the Programme Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) is a double Masters that has been run jointly with Imperial College London for over 35 years. It is a leading-edge, creative product development course that involves experimentation, design, engineering and enterprise activities. In multidisciplinary teams or as individuals, participants work at the centre of complex, demanding projects with an emphasis on prototyping and proving propositions. The programme is external facing and encourages all to tackle important real-world issues involving advanced technical, design and social parameters. We believe that design is a verb not a noun. The programme offers a unique double Master's MA Royal College of Art/MSc Imperial College London (students are fully enrolled at both institutions) a vibrant creative studio space for all MA/MSc students and a new research studio, both situated at the RCA with a diverse and international mix of students teaching staff who are highly experienced practitioners and work professionally in their field multiple commercial connections (recent projects have included Ford, Coca Cola, Airbus, BBC, Unilever, Vodafone (Future agenda), LG, Guzzini) good links and involvement in enterprise and commercialisation teaching or support through Design London Fellowships and InnovationRCA incubator student bursary support through The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and the James Dyson Foundation international exchanges, connections and student modules organised annually in different countries (recent visits include India, Japan, Thailand, China and Ghana) graduate destinations, alumni working at high level in businesses such as Apple, Nokia, Philips and self-started commercial enterprises including Takram, Bare Conductive... [-]

MA Intelligent Mobility

Campus Full time 15 months October 2017 United Kingdom London

MA Intelligent Mobility is a new 15-month, 240 credit programme that will succeed the existing MA Vehicle Design. It will be launched in 2017/18 alongside the Intelligent Mobility Lab, a new multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to the future of transportation design, systems and urban mobility, led by Director and inaugural Chair in Intelligent Mobility Professor Dale Harrow. [+]

About the Programme MA Intelligent Mobility is a new 15-month, 240 credit programme that will succeed the existing MA Vehicle Design. It will be launched in 2017/18 alongside the Intelligent Mobility Lab, a new multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to the future of transportation design, systems and urban mobility, led by Director and inaugural Chair in Intelligent Mobility Professor Dale Harrow. MA Intelligent Mobility aims to place the RCA in the vanguard of the ‘third age’ of automotive design. The MA Intelligent Mobility programme will comprise two distinct specialisms: Automotive Transitions and Urban Mobility. Automotive Transitions students will focus on using design thinking to develop innovative forms of transportation, such as autonomous vehicles. Urban Mobility students will focus on designing the systems and frameworks that enable people to move through hyper-connected cities. The programme will also acknowledge and explore solutions for the 80 per cent of people in developing or emerging economies who do not have access to transport. The programme offers a strong tutor team with diverse and high-level practitioner experience varied creative and cultural backgrounds within the MA specialisms close ties to the Intelligent Mobility Lab, a new multidisciplinary research centre extensive industrial relationships through sponsored projects, internships, portfolio reviews, trips and bursaries/awards. Recent collaborations have been with organisations including: Audi, Bentley, Citroen, Hitachi Rail Europe, Jaguar, Kia, EXA (aerodynamic software), Sabic and TATA close relationships with other RCA programmes, including Fashion, Textiles, Sculpture and Innovation Design Engineering a west-London location at the heart of a uniquely diverse vehicle,... [-]

MA Interior Design

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

The MA Interior Design programme engages its participants in exploring emergent ideas and issues concerning distinct aspects of the design of the interior. This incorporates research, practice and making work that explores the diversity of human occupation in numerous environments, extending from the room to the city. [+]

About the Programme The MA Interior Design programme engages its participants in exploring emergent ideas and issues concerning distinct aspects of the design of the interior. This incorporates research, practice and making work that explores the diversity of human occupation in numerous environments, extending from the room to the city. The programme encourages the view that the interior is an interface between its occupants and the built environment and it supports the notion that the interior is an agent for social change. The programme values speculation, analysis, rigour and provocation with regards to the thinking and making of all aspects of the design of the interior. It challenges its participants to formulate their own rigorous critically independent responses to these fundamental concerns. This is often undertaken via the reworking of existing structures, the creation of temporal installations and the formation of permanent interventions, all involving the construction and communication of particular spatial identities using space, objects and materials. Led by Head of Programme Professor Graeme Brooker, the two-year Interior Design programme is located in the School of Architecture. Its work is undertaken in its own design studio and is supported with lectures, seminars, given by researchers, academics and practitioners from related disciplines – set design, architecture, branding, digital design, engineering and installation art and others. These are offered in the unique RCA context of interdisciplinary, studio and workshop oriented, speculative advanced study. There are opportunities for live projects in conjunction with specific industry partners and each student is assigned a... [-]

MA Jewellery & Metal

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Jewellery & Metal (J&M) forms part of the School of Material. Within this context we are committed to exploring the rich and diverse field of adornment and object culture. We encourage an open-minded approach that in principle embraces all materials. But it is metal that constitutes the technological core of our subject and we believe that a deepening understanding of the metal elements is key in these developments; [+]

About the Programme Jewellery & Metal (J&M) forms part of the School of Material. Within this context we are committed to exploring the rich and diverse field of adornment and object culture. We encourage an open-minded approach that in principle embraces all materials. But it is metal that constitutes the technological core of our subject and we believe that a deepening understanding of the metal elements is key in these developments; the Periodic Table is our reference in expanding our activity within the subjects of jewellery and metalwork. The attitude of Jewellery & Metal has shifted from a purely object-centred focus to a wider scope, questioning and exploring issues centred on the human condition. We are responsive to the rapidly changing social and cultural landscape, and draw on history and technology in nurturing intellectual and creative skills directed at understanding and pushing forward jewellery and objects of human making. The rich and extensive bodies of knowledge associated with object-making and jewellery underpin an approach that is outward-looking, open to the wider discourse on commodity objects, connecting to contemporary life. As applied artists, being in control of the making process either by using our hands or through digital technologies is very important, it is our way of making sense of the world. As individuals we are fascinated with the rich and diverse materials and resources the world has to offer, and through the individuality of our personal visions we make our contribution to the bigger picture. Jewellery & Metal provides an... [-]

MA Painting

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Led by Professor David Rayson, the Painting programme is committed to broadening the understanding of the discipline in all its forms. Paint is a fluid material and ideas surrounding what painting is, has been and can be are being continually reflected upon, and actively explored. [+]

About the Programme Led by Professor David Rayson, the Painting programme is committed to broadening the understanding of the discipline in all its forms. Paint is a fluid material and ideas surrounding what painting is, has been and can be are being continually reflected upon, and actively explored. Through the many learning and teaching experiences the programme offers, students and staff rigorously, critically and supportively engage in personal tutorials, group critiques and presentations. These discussions and critical forums take place in the Painting studios, across the College, through visits to galleries and collaborations with our partner institutions, and during visits to major exhibitions both in this country and abroad. Our students are here to reflect upon and play out what kind of artists they want to be – how best to serve and challenge their personal agendas and all this in relation to current discussions and developments within the scope of contemporary painting, and the broader cultural realm. The student experience is supported by the painting programme, the opportunities and events that are timetabled across the School of Fine Art, and the Cultural and Historical Studies schedule. Ultimately the programme is designed and delivered in order to support our graduates in developing art practices that are sustainable and meaningful to each artists particular ambitions and operate at the highest levels of the contemporary art world. With each new year-group the dynamic of the studios and the conversations around painting shift and broaden in their agendas and processes. On graduation a... [-]

MA Photography

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Led by Professor Olivier Richon, the Photography programme at the RCA aims to provide a critical and educational environment in which students can develop as artists with photography at the core of their practice. [+]

About the Programme Led by Professor Olivier Richon, the Photography programme at the RCA aims to provide a critical and educational environment in which students can develop as artists with photography at the core of their practice. Our approach to photography relates to practices and theories of contemporary art, rather than to those of media and communication. We have a fluid approach to image making; whether still or moving, analogue or digital, the photographic image is for us a visual form that aims to be thoughtful as well as playful: an allegorical and thoroughly visual form. The programme understands photography as a medium with no fixed identity. This disregard for a fixed essence is photography’s strength: no aesthetic purity but a multiplicity of rhetorical forms used for the creation of fact, fiction and fantasy. Equally, the boundary between the still and the moving image is now fluid and porous, enabling new forms of image making to be created. We therefore also welcome applicants who work with film, video and installation. An informed practice of photography acknowledges the heterogeneous traditions of fine art and visual culture. It also engages with practices of reading and writing about the image. Here, theory and practice inform each other and this dialogue characterises committed study at postgraduate level. The Photography programme occupies purpose-built studio space at the RCA’s Battersea campus, alongside the other School of Fine Art programmes. The programme offers tutorials, seminars, lectures and group critiques by leading practitioners and thinkers practices of representation... [-]

MA Print

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Led by Professor Jo Stockham, the Print programme is a two-year specialist MA course. Renamed from Printmaking in 2015, this change signals that the study of the expanded field of Print is equal to the making of prints as a series of medium specific choices. [+]

About the Programme Led by Professor Jo Stockham, the Print programme is a two-year specialist MA course. Renamed from Printmaking in 2015, this change signals that the study of the expanded field of Print is equal to the making of prints as a series of medium specific choices. We explore the mediated image approached through a range of intellectual approaches provided by a diverse team of tutors, all practicing artists. Access to world-class technical facilities in all print media means that we are able to both explore and expand the field of Print addressing the constant interplay between thinking and making, the image and technology. Students from a wide variety of backgrounds choose to study with us because of their interest in questions, which include, the nature of the copy, diagramming, appropriation, materiality of the image, the politics of print and print as a collaborative practice. Artists’ books and web based work as forms of distribution and explorations of narrative structures are a growing aspect of the course. We are benefiting from the renewed interest in the circulation, reception and creation of multiple images due to the ubiquity of digital images and computing. We are embedded in a network of international print publishers, archives and galleries. A publishing project and exhibiting work are an integral part of the course. The potential for collaboration and residency situations where making work is a form of exchange is core to many students and we help them prepare for making applications to such opportunities.... [-]

MA Sculpture

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Led by Reader in Time-based Media Jordan Baseman, the Sculpture programme establishes a framework that encompasses the material, historical and theoretical conditions of sculpture where students are supported to develop their own practice. [+]

About the Programme Led by Reader in Time-based Media Jordan Baseman, the Sculpture programme establishes a framework that encompasses the material, historical and theoretical conditions of sculpture where students are supported to develop their own practice. Sculpture includes object-making, public art and social practices, site and space, performance, sound, film and video: but rather than consider the specific manifestations of sculpture we prefer to think of our position as a methodology from which to progress the production of art. The Sculpture programme provides a structure that incorporates both individual and group tutorials, as well as a dedicated seminar programme. Critical reviews of student work are conducted consistently throughout the year, at the end of each term and we invite external visitors to contribute to these discussions when they become School-wide. Our students are eager, determined, inquisitive, ambitious – actively defining their own terms in regards to the ideas and actualities of Sculpture. Sculpture occupies a purpose-built studio space at the RCA’s Battersea campus, alongside the other School of Fine Art programmes. Students have access to all specialist workshops across the College, including wood and metal workshops, spray rooms and our celebrated foundry, in which we facilitate casting with bronze, aluminum and iron. There are project spaces in which students can experiment with larger-scale production and display, as well as the practicalities of documentation. We have high-end computer suites with full 3D modeling facilities, alongside a number of still and moving image workstations. The programme offers associations with a broad constituency... [-]

MA Service Design

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Service Design has become the new frontier for designers who want to make a difference at scale, and in so doing advance the discipline of design. The service sector represents almost 80 per cent of the advanced economies, and in recent years the role of design in transforming both public and private sector services has become widely recognised. [+]

About the Programme Service Design has become the new frontier for designers who want to make a difference at scale, and in so doing advance the discipline of design. The service sector represents almost 80 per cent of the advanced economies, and in recent years the role of design in transforming both public and private sector services has become widely recognised. The programme at the Royal College of Art is the leading specialist service design programme worldwide and with around 80 students and researchers and 10–12 live projects at any time, it’s almost certainly the largest dedicated service design studio globally. Students emerging from the programme are finding immediate employment as service designers as industry and governments seek to transform their customer and citizen experience. We’ve just enhanced our programme by creating three new platforms for service design. The first is Service Innovation, which focuses on developing citizen and customer centric solutions to address immediate social, cultural and economic challenges. The second, Envision, not only speculates on the future of healthcare, education, retail, banking, transportation, but uses future forecasting techniques for society, culture and technology to design service experiences for the next decade and beyond. The final platform, Public Service and Policy, brings together social and political science with design to transform public service provision as well as government policy The RCA Service Design programme offers a two-year MA in Service Design as well as opportunities for MPhil and PhD research. Right from the start, students are immersed in the... [-]

MA Textiles

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Textiles offer uniquely fluid, flexible and infinitely adaptable ways of questioning, examining and solving the some of the societal challenges that face us. This powerful agency is more valuable and vital than ever before as these challenges become increasingly complex. [+]

About the Programme Textiles offer uniquely fluid, flexible and infinitely adaptable ways of questioning, examining and solving the some of the societal challenges that face us. This powerful agency is more valuable and vital than ever before as these challenges become increasingly complex. Textiles at the RCA is a multi-faceted discipline and our staff and students work at the creative interface between materials, making and meaning. Our focus is innovation that impacts and spans across many sectors exploring new territories for the twenty-first century Textiles specialist. New materials, new ways of making and new ways of experiencing our man-made world require us to constantly reconsider and question our activities, generating a culture of creative restlessness throughout the activities of the programme, which include 4* research, a growing PGR community and a dynamic masters course. We engage with industry at all levels and our graduates’ career profiles match this multi-faceted identity. This demands a challenging and dynamic approach that frequently employs multidisciplinary and collaborative methods. Our discipline thrives on a spirit of creative flux that encourages stepping away from the status-quo. The research culture in the Textiles programme has a strong history of creative collaboration between studio, workshop and industry, with material innovations such as Pinatex securing Intellectual Property for researchers and finding applications in manufacture. Textile researchers, both staff and students, work in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary way with scientists, engineers, ethnographers, anthropologists, designers and artists providing new solutions to social, cultural and material challenges. Out team of postgraduate MPhil... [-]

MA Visual Communication

Campus Full time 2 years October 2017 United Kingdom London

Visual Communication as a discipline is undergoing a major shift in both its vocational positioning and intellectual relevance. At the Royal College of Art, the programme has a long history that has radically examined the place of visual communication in relation to culture and society, while championing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach. [+]

About the Programme Visual Communication as a discipline is undergoing a major shift in both its vocational positioning and intellectual relevance. At the Royal College of Art, the programme has a long history that has radically examined the place of visual communication in relation to culture and society, while championing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach. The programme offers three pathways of study: Experimental Communication, Graphic Design and Illustration. The pathways are interrelated and structured around the discipline of visual communication to facilitate well-informed risk-taking and experimentation from a grounded position of subject knowledge and understanding. Pathways are delivered in subject clusters (critical thinking) supported by shared workshops (critical making) and delivered by staff who are either advanced practitioners, or active researchers engaged in both the core and margins of communication practice. As noted by our students, the necessary critical discourse around what it means to be a ‘visual communicator’ today opens up possibilities about the process and contexts of communication; and in doing so shows that our skillset is transferable beyond the confines of the purely visual. The programme provides an environment within which students aim to expand and explore new notions of traditional subjects – graphic design and illustration – and question existing practice, while doing so from a position of being well informed. We recognise that ensuring that our graduates are at the forefront of our subject means considering new technologies alongside traditional ones, understanding the changing relationship between the creative practitioner and society, and balancing critical... [-]
Contact
Location address
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore
London
London, England, SW7 2EU GB